Gun swab or cleaner



y 1947. J. A. JOWETT GUN- SWAB OR CLEANER Filed April 28, 1944 INVENTOR.

n s W E Patented May 6, 1947 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 3 Claims.

My invention relates to gun swabs or cleaners. An object of my inventionis to provide an improved gun swab or cleaner which is economical tomanufacture and effective in use.

Another object of my invention is to provide a gun swab which is ofuniform diameter and wound helically around a supporting rod so that theswab, during cleaning of the gun, will more or less follow the riding ofthe gun barrel.

My invention further contemplates the provision of a gun swab or cleanerwherein a strip of textile material is intertwined with wire and cut soas to form a pile bristling radially with respect to the wire, the stripbeing wound around a supporting rod with the ends of the wire soarranged that they are covered in such manner as to protect the gunbarrel against abrasion or scoring during cleaning.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be set forth in theclaims and will be apparent from the following description, when takenin connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a view showing the gun swab of my invention in unwoundcondition with the ends inserted in openings in the supporting rod;

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 with the supporting rod partly woundwith the cleaning material;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of Fig. 1 to better illustrate the manner inwhich the ends of the cleaning strip are covered;

Fig. 4 is a view showing the completed gun swab.

Heretofore most gun swabs merely have comprised a supporting rod with aslot extending therethrough through which a rag or other strip oftextile material was threaded. In using such a swab the end thereof isentered into the barrel of the gun and twisted as it is inserted. Thismore or less winds the rag or cleaning element about the rod, butusually not in a uniform manner. The cleaning element or strip tends tobunch eccentric with respect to the supporting rod. Eflective cleaningof the gun is difiicult and the swab does not efiectively reach thecrevices formed by the rifling. Many other types of gun swabs haveappeared on the market, such as brushes made of brass wire or otherstiff materials. For the most part these either have been expensive orhave been little or no more effective than the conventional gun swabmentioned above.

The gun swab or cleaner of my invention comprises a rod or support ll ofany suitable material. I have found a tube of plastic material to beextremely satisfactory as it is available in varying diameters and maybe conveniently cut to the desired lengths. The diameter of thesupporting tube will, of course, vary with the calibre of the gun to becleaned.

At a point removed from the end of the rod or tube an opening or slot isout which preferably does not extend through both walls of the tube. Theends of the tube are left open as indicated at [3 and M. If desired asolid rod may be used instead of a tube. The slot l2 may then be cut inthe rod and one or both ends of the rod bored to provide openingsequivalent to the open ends of the tube.

While other suitable materials mightbe wound about the tube in themanner indicated in the drawings to provide the cleaning element, I havefound a cleaning element made up in the manner described herein muchmore efiective for the purpose. The cleaning element of the swab ispreferably made by twisting two wires l6 and I! in intertwiningrelationship with a strip, strand or length I8 of textile, cord or othersuitable material. I have found a common light cord or string suitablefor the purpose. After the cord and wires have been wound or twistedtogether the strip or length of material thus formed and suitable knivesare rotated and fed with respect to each other so as to cut the textilematerial or cord and not damage or cut the wires. The out cord bristlesradially with respect to the wires to form a pile held in position bythe twisted wires. The method of manufacture need not be described ingreater detail since it is similar to the methods conventionally emplayed in the manufacture of pipe cleaners and is well known.

This strip or length of pile thus formed, generally indicated by thenumeral [8, after being cut to the length desired has one end thereofinserted in the slot l2 in the manner illustrated at 2| in Figs, 1 and3. The end of the strip of pile material is held in position by applyingadhesive to the end of the strip, as indicated at 22, in Fig. 3.

The opposite end of the strip is entered into the open end of the tube,as indicated in the drawings, and adhesively secured in the open end ofthe tube as shown at 23. The intermediate portions of the strip of pilematerial are wound upon the rod in the manner illustrated in Fig. 2 inthe form of a helix, the turns of the helix being adhesively secured tothe rod as the strip is wound. While I have shown the end of the stripin Fig. 2 inserted in the open. end of the tube prior to the completionOf winding, it is obvious that the winding on the tube may be completedand then the free end of the strip tucked in the open end of the tube.

When completed the swab or gun cleaner appears as shown in Fig. 4. Itwill be noted that the cleaning portion of the swab is of uniformdiameter so that it may be made up to properly fit any calibre of gun orrifle desired. The overall diameter of the Cleaning element is madeslightly larger than the diameter of the bore of the gun so that thepile material may be somewhat crushed as it enters the gun with the endsof the pile in intimate contact with the bore.

Due to the helical winding and the fact that the swab is of uniformdiameter a slight twisting of the swab as it is entered is all that isnecessaryto cause the swab to more or less follow the rifling of the gunbore to thereby enable the bristles or pile to enter the crevices formedby the rifiing to secure effective cleaning. Of major importance is thefact that the ends of the wire are covered or confined within the rodvso that the sharp ends can not score or abrade. the gun bore.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2. the opposite end of the tube is formedwith aslot 26 so that if desired a similar cleaning element may be secured inposition on the other end of the tube. Thus one end of the swab may beused for cleaning the gun barrel while the other end may be used forapplying: oil. The. swabsv are inexpensive to manufacture and after use.several times may be thrown away or cleaned. Ifdesired, cleaningelements more or less as appearing in Fig. 4 may be made up forattachment to a permanent gun swab rod. In such case all that isnecessary is to renew the cleaning end or ends of the swab.

While Ihave shown and described the preferred form of my invention, itwill be appreciated that, various changes and modifications may be. madetherein, particularly in. the form and relation of parts, withoutdeparting from the spirit. of my invention asset forth in the appendedclaims.

I claim:

1. A gun swab comprising a tubular rod having an open end and an openingbetween its ends, a strip of non-abrasive cleaning material having wireintertwined therewith, said strip having one of its ends inserted insaid opening extended into said rod and enclosed by the walls thereof,its intermediate portions wound helically on said rod and its other endinserted in the open end of said rod and enclosed by the walls thereof.

2'. A gun swab comprising a tubular rod having an opening between itsends and an open end, a strip of cleaning material intertwined with apair oi wires and cut so as to form a pile bristling radially of thewire, said strip having one of its ends inserted in said opening, itsintermediate portions wound helically on said rod and its other endinserted in the open end of said rod.

3. A gun swab comprising a tubular rod having an opening between its.ends and an open end, a strip of, cleaning material intertwined with, apair of wires and cut so as, to form a pile bristling radially of the,wire, said strip. having one of its ends inserted in said opening; andadhesively se,- cured to the internal sidewalls of the rod, itsintermediate portions wound helically on said rod and adhesivelysecuredto the external sidewalls thereof and its other end inserted in the.open end of said rod and adhesively secured to the internal sidewallsthereof.

JOHN A. JOWE'I'I.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

